Web Links

Obesity Organizations

The Obesity SocietyThe Obesity Society is a scientific organization dedicated to the study of the causes and treatment of obesity. The Obesity Society’s goal is to promote research, education and advocacy to better understand, prevent, and treat obesity and improve the lives of those affected.

Obesity Action CoalitionThe Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) is a non-profit, patient-based organization that offers educational resources, advocates for the safe and effective treatment of obesity, and provides patients with a variety of levels of support. Combating weight stigma is also part of OAC’s mission.

A main focus of the STOP (Strategies to Overcome and Prevent) Obesity Alliance is to conduct and assemble research that identifies cultural and systemic biases in combating obesity and its related health conditions. Read the guide on talking to children about weight and health.

Anti-Bullying Websites

Beat BullyingBeat Bullying, based in the U.K., aims to reduce the prevalence and impact of bullying by operating local anti-bullying campaigns and producing anti-bulling toolkits and publications. The site offers downloadable toolkits for several audiences.

Bullies Can Be TransformedBullies Can Be Transformed offers consultation services for bullying prevention through bully transformation. The site contains information and guides for schools and parents.

Bully BoyBully Boy was created by two Canadian youths with a mission to stop bullying. They provide resources for use in schools, including the interactive comic book The MISadventures of Bully-Boy and Gossip-Girl. Their site features a kids sections with an interactive game and a useful recommended reading list for adults.

Bully BustersBully Busters is a campaign against workplace bullying that coordinates national legislative initiatives to stop workplace bullying and also provides education and action strategies for bullied individuals.

Bully Free WorldBully Free World offers straightforward information about bullying and what to do about it.

Bullying.orgBullying.org provides online support groups, education, and strategies to victims of bullying as well as information for parents and teachers. They also welcome submissions of stories, poetry, images, music, and videos, which they feature on the site. Their motto: You’re not alone. It’s not your fault. You can do something about it.

Bully Police Bully Police is a watch-dog organization that reports on state anti-bullying laws and advocates for bullied children. The site posts the names of schools that fail to deal with bully problems and also contains useful resources and links for parents and teachers.

CyberALLYThis website was created by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). It offers several resources for youth, parents, educators, and advocates including potential consequences of cyberbullying, strategies to combat or respond to cyberbullying, training programs and classroom materials about cyberbullying. The goal of the ADL is to inform, raise awareness, and arm targets and advocates for action against cyberbullying.

Education.com Bullying Special EditionEducation.com has launched a Special Edition on Bullying at School. The website includes the latest research on bullying, video clips, quizzes, online workshops, community forums and fact lists. Among other helpful information provided for parents and educators, the website lists 10 actions parents can take to help address bullying.

Kids Against BullyingPACER Center, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota is a parent center for families of children and young adults with all disabilities—physical, mental, learning, and emotional. The Kids Against Bullying website is targeted toward younger children (elementary school) and is a helpful resource and forum for anyone who is exposed to bullying – not only children with disabilities.

Stop BullyingStopBullying.gov provides information from various government agencies on what bullying is, what cyberbullying is, who is at risk, and how you can prevent and respond to bullying.

Wounded Child ProjectThe Wounded Child Project is a storytelling website. Students, parents and survivors of bullying tell their stories so that others may learn of the emotional, psychological, mental and physical abuse they have suffered at the hands (and minds) of a bully.

Diversity & Anti-Bullying Curriculums

National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) Child Advocacy ToolkitNAAFA is a non-profit organization that works to eliminate discrimination based on body size through empowerment, public education, advocacy, and member support. They have created a toolkit to inform individuals about improving child health without doing harm, and how to design programs and approaches to improve the health of all youth without doing harm.

Operation RespectOperation Respect is a non-profit organization working to assure that youth experience a respectful, safe and compassionate climate of learning where their academic, social and emotional development can take place free of bullying, ridicule and violence.

Operation Respect’s "Don't Laugh at Me" (DLAM) is a classroom-based program, with components for grades 2-5, another for grades 6-8 and a third for summer camps and after-school programs. All of the programs utilize inspiring music and video along with curriculum guides based on the well-tested, highly regarded conflict resolution curricula developed by the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (RCCP) of Educators for Social Responsibility (ESR). Thanks to the generosity of The McGraw-Hill Companies, and other supporters, Operation Respect disseminates the DLAM programs free of charge. More than 145,000 copies of the curriculum have been distributed to educators since Operation Respect's inception.

The website includes a variety of resources for educators, parents, and students, including a curriculum guide, evaluations, CD, and video.

Steps to Respect: A Bullying Prevention ProgramProduced by the Committee for Children, this program engages the entire school and includes classroom lessons for students in the upper-elementary grades (3-5 or 4-6), workshops and training for all adults at the school, materials for parents, and step-by-step procedures to help school leaders put anti-bullying policies into action. The Steps to Respect kit includes everything schools need to implement the program, including step-by-step guidelines for program use, sample anti-bullying policies and procedures, research on bullying, and best practices for prevention. The Training Manual includes training outlines, presentation materials, staff training videos, and parent education materials. Approximately 3300 schools across the U.S. and Canada are currently using the Steps to Respect program.

Teaching ToleranceTeaching Tolerance (a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center) is highly respected within the education world and is an influential publication in the anti-bias education field. Teaching Tolerance offers online education and resources for parents, teachers, teens, and kids aimed at stopping hate and promoting diversity. Teaching Tolerance also provides free kits and handbooks to schools and ideas for classroom activities. There are 10 different kits on specific topics that range in target age from pre-K to 12th grade.

Recently, Teaching Tolerance posted a new resource to specifically address Weight Bias, called the “ABC’s of Size Bias”. This resource includes lesson plans, expert Q & A, and strategies for educators and parents to foster healthier attitudes about body size.

The Anti-Defamation League – A WORLD OF DIFFERNCE InstituteThe Anti-Defamation League’s A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute is a leading provider of anti-bias education and diversity training programs and resources. The Institute seeks to help participants recognize bias and the harm it inflicts on individuals and society, explore the value of diversity, improve intergroup relations, and combat all forms of prejudice and bigotry. Program Components include: A Classroom of Difference, A Campus of Difference, A Community of Difference, and A Workplace of Difference.

Understanding PrejudiceUnderstandingPrejudice.org is a website designed for students, teachers, and others that discusses the causes and consequences of prejudice. Their website provides more than 2,000 links to prejudice-related resources, as well as searchable databases with hundreds of prejudice researchers and social justice organizations. They also provide a variety of interactive exercises offering unique perspectives on prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination.

Women’s Educational Media – The Respect for All ProjectThe Respect for All Project (RFAP) seeks to create safe schools and communities by giving youth and the adults who guide their development the tools they need to talk openly about diversity in all its forms. The website offers a comprehensive set of resources for educators and youth-service providers, including award-winning documentary films, high-quality curriculum guides and comprehensive professional development workshops.

The Let’s Get Real film and curriculum focuses on name-calling and bullying among middle school students. Workshops provide participants with effective tools to help youth explore the underlying issues that lead them to tease or harass one another, including stereotypes and prejudice. This film indirectly addresses weight-related bullying.

Size Acceptance Organizations

Health at Every SizeHealth at Every Size is a source for weight-related news and resources. The site is also home to the Health at Every Size radio show with Dr. Peggy Elam.

International Size Acceptance Association (ISAA)ISAA is a non-profit civil rights organization dedicated to promoting size acceptance and helping to end size discrimination. ISAA engages in multiple activism activities including the Respect Fitness Health Initiative, which promotes the ideas that people must respect themselves in order to succeed, people of all sizes can become more fit, and everyone can benefit from healthier food choices.

NAAFA – The National Association to Advance Fat AcceptanceNAAFA is a non-profit organization that works to eliminate discrimination based on body size through empowerment, public education, advocacy, and member support. NAAFA organizes letter-writing campaigns, sponsors events, and is involved in legislative issues.

The Council on Size and Weight DiscriminationCSWD is a not-for-profit group which works to change people's attitudes about weight. They act as consumer advocates for larger people, especially in the areas of medical treatment, job discrimination, and media images.

The Obesity Law and Advocacy CenterThe Obesity Law & Advocacy Center is devoted to representing the interests of morbidly obese persons in health care and discrimination matters. They work with people all over the country in challenging insurance companies who deny access to medically necessary bariatric surgery and other types of health care and consult with victims of employment discrimination, Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) violations and wrongful termination based on weight.

Body Image Resources

Big Beautiful WellnessCreated by Liz McCallum, a motivational speaker and corporate trainer, this website offers resources and tips for those interested in wellness for all regardless of body size, encourages individuals to participate in all aspects of a "normal life", and brings attention to the skewed focus of society and the diet industry. Big Beautiful Wellness also provides a web-community as an outlet to tell your story, links to plus size fashion websites, and upcoming body wellness speaking engagements.

Body Positive ApproachThis site is an educational resource for the Body Positive Approach, which is a set of ideas and tools aimed at improving body image by emphasizing quality of life over weight loss. Body Positive also addresses children and weight, providing information for parents. The site contains a useful list of resources and related links.

Model for Healthy Body ImageModel for Healthy Body Image is designed by Kathy Kater (author of Real Kids Come in All Sizes) to help children and adults to develop a positive body image by challenging cultural myths that promote unhealthy body images and eating. The curriculum, Healthy Body Image: Teaching Kids to Eat and Love Their Bodies Too, is available for purchase on the website in addition to free downloadable information and resources.

Radiance MagazineRadiance: The Magazine for Large Women was created in 1984 and was published quarterly for 16 years. Its purpose was to support women "all sizes of large" in living proud, full, active lives, at whatever weight, with self-love and self-respect.

The Body PositiveThe Body Positive is an educational program designed to teach young people to adopt the Health at Every Size philosophy, allowing them to enjoy healthy eating and physical activity in their natural bodies. The program offers training, consultations, workshops, and speaker presentations. The Body Positive is different, although complementary to, the Body Positive Approach (see below).

Yahoo group email list for Parents of Fat Kids"Parents of Fat Kids" offers support for parents and their larger children and teens. This is a Health at Every Size (HAES), size acceptance-oriented group that does not discuss or endorse pursuing weight loss. Instead, they support parents in cherishing their children at any weight, living and communicating the message that all sizes of bodies are good and need good care, and in helping their children deal with weight-based stigma. Members also help each other deal with sources of weight-based stigma that affect their kids, including schools, healthcare, and legal discrimination.

Websites for Youth

BB TeenzBig Beautiful (BB) Teenz is a section of the International Size Acceptance Association’s website devoted to teenagers. The site contains news clips, links to teen plus-sized fashion and more.

Bullying for GirlsThis government-sponsored site contains information specifically for girls and young women about bullying.

Extra HipExtra Hip is a magazine for plus-sized teens, published by plus-sized model and author Katie Aarons. She says, “Our goal is to inform the Hipster with honest truths about dieting and nutrition and inspire them to live their lives to the fullest.” Site offers a forum, fitness and fashion tips, and accepts poetry and story contributions.

Radiance Magazine Kids ProjectRadiance: The Magazine for Large Women was created in 1984 and was published quarterly for 16 years. Its purpose was to support women "all sizes of large" in living proud, full, active lives, at whatever weight, with self-love and self-respect. The Kids Project provides resources, articles, essays, and links for children, teens, and young adults, and those who love who love and work with them such as parents, teachers, counselors, and health professionals.